Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A helicopter carrying 18 passengers and five crew members crashed in a remote area in India's northeast Assam state on Tuesday.

At least 20 people were killed when the state-run Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd. chopper was about to land at a helipad, police said in a report by the AP.

S.B. Singh, police inspector general of Arunachal Pradesh state said, "There were 23 people on board the helicopter and three survived the crash but they are badly injured and almost completely burnt."

The Russian-designed M-17 helicopter hit a wall and was set into fire while trying to land in Tawang town bordering China for the Buddhist pilgrimage.